A NEW STADIUM

Erma Tranter, Executive director Friends of the ParksCHICAGO TRIBUNE

Friends of the Parks agrees with the Tribune's Jan. 7 editorial "McDome still best for Bears" and particularly with your conclusion "not on da lake." Indeed, while "not on da lake" has been the mantra of park advocates for decades, it must become the mantra of the city and the state in order to stop the madness in thinking that the lakefront is "free" land for a new Bears stadium. Of the many sites being considered and discussed for a possible Bears stadium, the south Soldier Field parking lot on the lakefront is a completely unacceptable location.

Most people have come to agree that the construction of Soldier Field on the lakefront in the 1920s was a mistake given today's conditions. The lakefront location allows only two directions for dispersal of traffic, instead of the necessary four directions for entering and exiting of spectators and their vehicles. More important, the nearly complete lack of public transit to the lakefront stadium causes congestion that paralyzes the lakefront on event days. With the relocation of the northbound lanes of Lake Shore Drive, we have created a new Museum Campus for three world class cultural institutions. These museums would suffer even more should yet a new stadium be constructed on the Soldier Field parking lots.

The use of additional lakefront parkland for a new Bears stadium would continue the role of Chicago taxpayers in subsidizing a private football team. This subsidy occurs in three ways. First, Chicagoans pay through the "grab" of the parkland that should be used as was originally intended for recreation facilities for the public. Second, Chicago taxpayers would pay the debt service on the capital-improvement bonds used to construct or renovate a stadium on the south Soldier Field parking lot. Finally, the public would subsidize the Bears by using the Park District's limited capital-improvement dollars for a new stadium. The Park District has a legal cap that limits the capital-improvement bond dollars that can be spent on park improvements. If millions of dollars in Park District capital-improvement dollars are allocated for a new lakefront stadium, those millions would reduce the amount of capital-improvement dollars available for improvements to neighborhood parks and facilities.